Your Personal Airforce

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I've got two lists, the first is the aircraft I think are the best, the second are the aircraft I just like, whether they;re the best for the job or not.

Best:
1.Fighter - P-51D Mustang
2.Attack aircraft - P-47 Thunderbolt
3.recon. Aircraft - SC Seahawk
4.Seaplane - PBY Catalina
5.Heavy bomber B-29 Superfortress
6.Med. bomber - B-25 Mitchell
7.Night fighter - De Havilland Mosquito
8.Trainer - T-6 Texan
9.Transport - C-47 Skytrain

Favorite:
1.Fighter - P-38 Lightning
2.Attack aircraft - SBD Dauntless
3.recon. Aircraft - SC Seahawk
4.Seaplane - F4F-3S Wild Catfish
5.Heavy bomber B-17 Flying Fortress
6.Med. bomber - B-25 Mitchell
7.Night fighter - P-61 Balck Widow
8.Trainer - Stearman Kaydet
9.Transport - C-46 Commando
 
1. Focke Wulf Ta 152
2. Henschel Hs 129B
3. Arado Ar 234
4. Dornier Do 24
5. Boeing B-29
6. B-25 Mitchell
7. De Havilland Mosquito NF.Mk 30
8. AT-6 Texan
9. C-54 Skymaster

I was considering the Arado-196 for floatplane also. And nightfighter I'm not sure about.
 
I have a problem with lists like this. Obviously, if you really were a country with cash looking to develop a WW2 airforce from scratch, you'd probably tend to purchase planes and construction licenses from only one or two nations to simplify ammunition, maintenance, etc.

Also, on general principle, I will exclude late war planes like the Ta-152 and any jets. In the real world, nobody is going to sell you planes they are only just themselves putting into service (plus, your generals are likely going to sell you on proven designs that are still good, but which can be obtained a little more cheaply). I'm only going to consider planes that have been in squadron service since 1942-43.

Finally, some of the categories seem hard to peg. "Recon" can mean high speed strategic recon or battlefield spotting and observation. By "seaplane" do you mean ship-launched floatplanes or land based flying boats/floatplanes?


1.Fighter - P-51 (fast, versatile, and long range - maybe not the best in everything but, if you can only buy one
2.Attack aircraft - Il-2 Sturmovik (armor, guns, bombs, rockets, boom!)
3.recon. Aircraft - Ki-46
4.Seaplane - H8K
5.Heavy bomber - Lancaster
6.Med. bomber - Screw Medium bombers - I'll skip those and take some Mosquitos
7.Night fighter - Ju-88
8.Trainer - AT6
9.Transport - C-47
 
1. P-51 of course range, altitude, escort for 29s and fighter interceptor
2. Me262 can bomb, rocket, intercept or act as escort for ar 234s (fast bombers..need a fast escort)
3. recon/fighter typhoon ... alot of recon was low and fast over the target. can act as interceptor fighter
4. catalina
5. B 29
6. Ar 234
7.Night fighter mossie
8.Trainer p 40 << it was the last trainer most fighter pilots flew. went from pt 19 - bt13- at6 - p40.
9.Transport C 47

this is what i would use just off the top of my head...
 

Good thing this thread was just for fun then huh?
 
DerAdlerIstGelandet said:
Good thing this thread was just for fun then huh?
Click to expand...

OK, just for fun I'd go with:

1.Fighter - Me-262
2.Attack aircraft - Douglas B-26
3.recon. Aircraft - Ar-234C
4.Seaplane - H8K
5.Heavy bomber - B-29
6.Med. bomber - Ju-388
7.Night fighter - P-82
8.Trainer - AT6
9.Transport - Consolidated Constellation
 
Fighter: Sorry but I need two, P51D and MkXIV Spitfire (bubble canopy). One for long range one for short.
Attack Aircraft: Typhoon
Recon: Mosquito PR Mk34
Seaplane, Catalina/Canso
Heavy Bomber: Lancaster (I think they didn't get all the bugs worked out of the B29 till after the war or I'd pick it)
Med/Light bomber: Tupolev Tu2
Night Fighter: Mosquito NF Mk30
Trainer: Harvard
Transport: C47
 
grwhyte, I am curious as to why if you are building an airforce, you seem to be ignoring the need for carrier aircraft. Probably not going to do much good in the Pacific without carrier planes.
 
At the start of WWII weren't there only 3 countries who had aircraft carriers? USA, Japan and Great Britain? Maybe Germany, Italy and France has plans for carriers? Every other airforce in the world flew strictly land based planes. Switzerland for sure had no plans for aircraft carriers!
 
claidemore said:
At the start of WWII weren't there only 3 countries who had aircraft carriers? USA, Japan and Great Britain? Maybe Germany, Italy and France has plans for carriers?
Click to expand...

Germany planned one carrier, the Graf Zeppelin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graf_Zeppelin_(aircraft_carrier) .

Italy almost had one, the Aquila
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_aircraft_carrier_Aquila

(and was banned by treaty after WW2 from having them until revoked in 1988)

France had one carrier, the Béarn
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_aircraft_carrier_Béarn

Hope the wiki links are ok, not always the best place for info but handy for a quick look nevertheless.

Russia (to my surpise) reportedly even thought about building 2 of them before WW2 began with them on the receiving end brought altered priorities
http://128.121.102.226/rcar.html

The real heart of the matter was that until the Royal Navy demonstrated the value of naval air power at the Battle of Taranto (and Japan later hammered home the message for the slow learners a little later at Pearl Harbour) nobody really realised the day of the battleships and then 'conventional sea power' etc was over.
In some respects the USA went on a fast track to understanding the new realities as so much of their conventional Pacific fleet had been sunk......tho critically not the carriers which were lucky to be away from PH at the time of the attack.

(.....or, as conspiracy theorists might have it, were they really just lucky? )
 
Last edited by a moderator:
bit fancifull but--

1.Fighter - Spitfire mkXIV, the Spit wasn't produced throughout the war for no reason!

2.Attack aircraft - Typhoon a true multi purpose design able to escort its own kind!

3.recon. Aircraft - was going to say the Arado, but engines bursting into flame is rather unhelpfull , so im going with the Mossie.

4.Seaplane - Sunderland, would make a good air liner after the war (-:

5.Heavy bomber - B-29 benefitting from a lot of manufacturing and operational experience in the design, in a class of it's own really.

6.Med. bomber - B25 , low level, medium level, high alt, gunbus aith a hard nose, level bomber with a bombadier at the front, what a brilliant design!

7.Night fighter - Mossie one of the true greats of ww2

8.Trainer - Tiger Moth, at a time of low wing 300mph plus fighters, anyone who flew one of those things deserves a bleedin medal for just getting in it!

9.Transport - The utterly superb Dakota, greatest plane of the whole war!
 
The US Navy was far advanced it it's thinking, relatively, having gone through exercises where carrier aircraft attacked the Panama Canal and this was done well before the Second World war began in 1939. They even postulated an attack on Pearl Harbor. The Admiral commanding the Pacific Fleet before Kimmel, told the Roosevelt Administration that the Pacific Fllet was not safe at Pearl Harbor and he was retired early for his trouble.

The problem in the Pacific was not the other guy's carriers so much as it was that the distances were so great that land based AC could not do much good because they had not the range. The land based fighters and attack planes in the ETO were of little use in the Pacific early in the war.
 
Ok, here is an unusual one


1.Fighter: Curtiss H-75
2.Attack aircraft: Vought O2U Corsair
3.recon. Aircraft: PBY(Navy), H-75(Air Force)
4.Seaplane: PBY Catalina
5.Heavy bomber: Martin WH-139
6.Med. bomber: (no such thing)
7.Night fighter: Curtiss H-75
8.Trainer: North American T-6
9.Transport: Lockheed Super Electra

In case you have not noticed, I´m Thailand at the start of WW2.
 
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